Utopia eBook

I am, indeed, apt to think that they learned that
language the more easily from its having some relation
to their own. I believe that they were a colony
of the Greeks; for though their language comes nearer
the Persian, yet they retain many names, both for their
towns and magistrates, that are of Greek derivation.
I happened to carry a great many books with me, instead
of merchandise, when I sailed my fourth voyage; for
I was so far from thinking of soon coming back, that
I rather thought never to have returned at all, and
I gave them all my books, among which were many of
Plato’s and some of Aristotle’s works:
I had also Theophrastus on Plants, which, to my great
regret, was imperfect; for having laid it carelessly
by, while we were at sea, a monkey had seized upon
it, and in many places torn out the leaves. They
have no books of grammar but Lascares, for I did not
carry Theodorus with me; nor have they any dictionaries
but Hesichius and Dioscerides. They esteem Plutarch
highly, and were much taken with Lucian’s wit
and with his pleasant way of writing. As for
the poets, they have Aristophanes, Homer, Euripides,
and Sophocles of Aldus’s edition; and for historians,
Thucydides, Herodotus, and Herodian. One of my
companions, Thricius Apinatus, happened to carry with
him some of Hippocrates’s works and Galen’s
Microtechne, which they hold in great estimation; for
though there is no nation in the world that needs
physic so little as they do, yet there is not any
that honours it so much; they reckon the knowledge
of it one of the pleasantest and most profitable parts
of philosophy, by which, as they search into the secrets
of nature, so they not only find this study highly
agreeable, but think that such inquiries are very
acceptable to the Author of nature; and imagine, that
as He, like the inventors of curious engines amongst
mankind, has exposed this great machine of the universe
to the view of the only creatures capable of contemplating
it, so an exact and curious observer, who admires His
workmanship, is much more acceptable to Him than one
of the herd, who, like a beast incapable of reason,
looks on this glorious scene with the eyes of a dull
and unconcerned spectator.

“The minds of the Utopians, when fenced with
a love for learning, are very ingenious in discovering
all such arts as are necessary to carry it to perfection.
Two things they owe to us, the manufacture of paper
and the art of printing; yet they are not so entirely
indebted to us for these discoveries but that a great
part of the invention was their own. We showed
them some books printed by Aldus, we explained to them
the way of making paper and the mystery of printing;
but, as we had never practised these arts, we described
them in a crude and superficial manner. They
seized the hints we gave them; and though at first
they could not arrive at perfection, yet by making
many essays they at last found out and corrected all
their errors and conquered every difficulty.